The pretend relationship protects a professional secret. Taylor needs income and Jamar needs discreet training; being seen together threatens the arrangement, so dating becomes their explanation. Hachette / Forever
This is worth choosing for two adults supporting difficult ambitions. Choose another entry if the prolonged mechanics of fooling outsiders are your main pleasure: the fake stage is comparatively short.
Supportive ambition and competitive attraction; scattered themes and brief pretense weaken the trope machinery.
Provisional Eikna score: 3.6/5. Four core dimensions cover 85% of the quality weight. Ending satisfaction and reread appeal remain unscored; heat is excluded. Researched editorial assessment; no firsthand reading claimed. Evidence confidence: moderate.
A numeric heat level has not been established. Read the review’s heat and content discussion for attributed descriptions before choosing. An unknown level is not a closed-door or no-spice promise.
The heat-level guide explains detail and frequency; the glossary entry for spice separates sexual content from quality.
The romantic outcome is not established in this summary. A romance label does not independently confirm an ending. Consult the discussion before choosing if closure is essential.
For the difference between romantic commitment and wider plot closure, compare HEA, HFN and cliffhangers.
Standalone or continuing-series status is not established in this summary. Read the existing format and series guidance for any available context; do not assume a missing series entry means the book stands alone.
The series-order guide explains what to check when a complete romance belongs to a connected world.
| Title | The Dating Playbook |
|---|---|
| Author | Farrah Rochon |
| Inspected edition | Edition details remain subject to cover and retailer identity checks. |
| Publication scope | 2021-08-17 |
| ISBN-13 | 9781538716663 |
| Edition page count | 368 pages |
The author or publisher evidence identifies the work. Publication dates refer to the stated edition or release scope, not automatically the first appearance of the story. Unknown identifiers and formats are left open.
The publisher gives Taylor financial pressure and Jamar a private comeback goal. Forever
Their invented relationship is a cover for sustained professional contact rather than a dating exercise.
Kirkus finds the competitive attraction charming and values each person supporting the other’s ambitions and vulnerabilities. Kirkus
Consider it when a couple helping each other matters as much as maintaining the lie.
narfna finds the opening effective but thinks financial concerns lose focus when learning difficulties, family and grief accumulate. narfna
The reservation concerns how those threads are integrated, rather than their presence being inherently excessive.
narfna finds the fake arrangement underused as sex and genuine dating arrive relatively early. narfna
Totally Lucy enjoys the banter and adult decision-making. Totally Lucy
Choose for developing partnership, with limited expectations about prolonged performance.
Totally Lucy explicitly reports sex scenes. Numeric intensity and frequency remain unverified. Totally Lucy
Kirkus discusses injury, grief and financial insecurity. Kirkus narfna identifies learning difficulties and family pressure. These notes are selective. narfna
For readers who enjoy athletic training, career uncertainty and supportive Black love. Less suitable if you need a long public charade or tightly concentrated thematic development.
These selected completed-reading responses disagree about the execution; they are not an audience consensus. Mutual support and well-developed personal dilemmas strengthen the competitive match. Kirkus Reviews Strong opening gives way to scattered themes and a quickly discarded fake relationship. Cannonball Read / narfna Banter, adult choices and sexual scenes support an enjoyable Black romance. Totally Lucy
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The second Boyfriend Project novel follows Taylor rather than the first book’s couple. This review does not assume every earlier relationship detail is explained anew.
A direct US product edition has not been verified. The Amazon link is a title-and-author search, with no specific format or availability promised.
We may earn a commission from purchases through our links, at no extra cost to you. Search Amazon for the title and author.
The inspected Bookshop.org product is Paperback. Its title, author and ISBN 9781538716670 were checked; current price and stock are not established.
Quality scale: 1 substantial weaknesses; 2 weaknesses outweigh strengths; 3 mixed; 4 strengths outweigh limitations; 5 exceptional sustained strengths. Half points are allowed. Weights: romance 30%, characters 20%, writing 20%, emotional impact 15%, ending satisfaction 10%, reread appeal 5%. A provisional overall score divides the supported weighted sum by its supported weight and rounds once to one decimal. Heat is descriptive and excluded. These scores express the evidence-based judgment explained in this review.
Support outlasts the brief performance
Provisional dimension score: 3.5/5.
Ambition meets personal uncertainty
Provisional dimension score: 4/5.
Strong entry, competing threads
Provisional dimension score: 3.5/5.
Care earns praise, grief loses focus
Provisional dimension score: 3.5/5.
Descriptive evidence, excluded from quality
Outcome is separate from its execution
No documented editorial rereading
Taylor and Jamar publicly claim to be dating to disguise her role secretly training him for an NFL return. Staged outings give way to real attraction, although the pretense occupies a relatively brief part of the novel. Publisher
Totally Lucy explicitly reports sex scenes. Numeric intensity and frequency remain unverified. Totally Lucy
No. This researched editorial assessment compares named criticism. Any numeric result is provisional and covers the four core dimensions only; ending satisfaction and reread value remain unscored.
Compare athletic recovery and a working partnership becoming attraction, with golf replacing private NFL training.
Try another athlete and practical arrangement if you want a longer, slower transition toward emotional commitment.
Compare sports, friendship and outside expectations when athletic fame complicates an already close bond.
The fake dating guide includes this book among other choices. Compare those options if its premise appeals but a limitation gives you pause. The Explore the romance trope guide explains the surrounding reading route and what to check before choosing.
Supportive ambition and competitive attraction; scattered themes and brief pretense weaken the trope machinery. For readers who enjoy athletic training, career uncertainty and supportive Black love. Less suitable if you need a long public charade or tightly concentrated thematic development.
Search Amazon for the title and author when this balance matches what you want to read.
Checked October 6, 2026. The How this assessment was researched preserves attributions and research limits. Unknown details do not establish absence. Purchasing links use our account.
Hachette UK — The Dating Playbook: The book's Genre field explicitly lists Adult & Contemporary Romance. Classification verified; checked 2026-10-07.
Hachette Book Group / Forever — The Dating Playbook: Trainer Taylor agrees to fake date client Jamar. He wants his training for an NFL comeback kept secret; being mistaken for a couple supplies the cover before people who might discover that professional arrangement. Pretence mechanism verified; checked 2026-10-07.
The contemporary fake-dating collection compares this arrangement with family expectations, career needs, publicity and inheritance, so you can choose the reason for pretending you want to read about.